India may not reach 175GW RE capacity target by 2022: Fitch

The passage of the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill will support its growth.

India is expected to “fall well short” of its goal to reach 175 gigawatts (GW) of non-hydropower renewables capacity by year-end because of “protectionism policies for solar equipment manufacturing,” according to Fitch Solutions.

In a report, Fitch also noted the announcement of the secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy that the country will not meet its 60GW wind power installed capacity target, and the overall renewables goal for the year.

READ MORE: India’s RE capacity reaches over 109GW as of Q1 2022

Despite this, it said that the passage of the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill by the Lok Sabha. 

“We believe the Bill is an effort to accelerate renewables growth over the coming years as it will mandate the consumption of electricity generated from non-fossil fuel sources, increasing renewables adoption,” Fitch said.

“However, we still maintain our growth forecasts for India’s non-hydropower renewables growth, as the amendment proposal does not state any mandated percentage of renewable electricity consumption,” it added.

The growth of India’s non-hydropower renewables is considered “robust” compared to its neighbouring countries, Fitch said, noting that the country has the second-largest non-hydropower renewable pipeline at 71GW, largely excluding rooftop solar.